Extra-Ordinary Speed Work

Making Track Sessions More Fun

For many runners, "Tuesday" means "track." For years, this meant I had a love/hate relationship with Tuesdays. As a tough workout neared, my pulse would soar, my breath would quicken, and butterflies would dance in my stomach. I would stare at my watch and inform the butterflies that it was not yet time and that even if it were, I did not have to do this. Sometimes they listened. More often, they knew self-delusion when they saw it. "Yeah sure," they’d say. Flap-flap, flutter-flutter. "We’ve heard that one before."

Then my club asked me to coach what had previously been an informal get-together and I realized that I couldn’t expect everyone to do my butterfly-inducing workouts. Not if I wanted more than a handful to show up.

Partly that was because, while I’m not an elite, I’d been experimenting with elite-level workouts, just for the fun of it. Sometimes they entailed quite a bit of mileage. But even if I backed off to something more reasonable, I was accustomed to the traditional standbys: 3 x 1 mile, 4 x 1,200, 5 x 1,000, 6 x 800, 8 x 600, 10 x 400, and so on. They work well, but can get repetitive. And for many people, staring at a string of 1,000s is intimidating, even if there are "only" five of them.

A common way of dodging the intimidation factor is with broad-ranging ladders or pyramid workouts, such as 200-400-800-1,000-1,000-800-400-200. (Pyramids are workouts in which the lengths increase, then decrease. Ladders are ones in which they successively increase. There are also inverted pyramids and descending ladders.) These are popular because they create a nice sense of progress, but they suffer two major drawbacks: (1) they’re usually trying to do too many things at once; and (2) most people don’t know how to pace them correctly. You can still get faster on such workouts, but the old standbys are more efficient.

Was it possible, I wondered, to design technically sound workouts that are tough enough for serious competitors, but also fun for the average racer? While I was at it, could I use them to breathe new excitement into my own workouts?

My solution was to remember that speed workouts are comprised of three elements: interval length, pace, and recovery time. Eight fast quarters with full recoveries, for example, is a very different workout from a dozen slower ones with short recoveries. The first will tax your leg strength; the second, your aerobics. Soon, I was playing with these elements — particularly the recovery times — to produce fresh, new workouts that function very much like the old standbys. Better yet, they tend to be more fun.

SMELT Running

Except for a few elite workouts or marathon workouts, there are five basic training paces. In order of decreasing speed, I call them "S, M, L, T," and "E." Rearrange the order a bit, and you have an acronym: SMELT.

"S" is for "short," as in "short intervals." It’s the fastest pace at which you’d run 200s, 300s, or 400s: about eight to 10 percent per mile faster than current 5K road-racing pace. For many people that will be about 30-35 sec/mile faster.

"L" is for "long intervals." It’s zero to five sec/mile faster than 5K pace, and is the pace at which you’d normally do 1,000s, 1,200s, or miles.

"T" is tempo: about five percent slower than 10K pace (about 20 sec/mile slower for a 40:00 10K runner).

"E" is easy: your basic jog/training pace. It’s not generally part of a track workout.

Each serves a different purpose. "S" builds muscle strength and running efficiency; "L" builds aerobic horsepower. "M" is something I learned from Alberto Salazar, who believes it gives you some of the benefits of both "S" and "L." "T" boosts your lactic acid threshold.

Efficient, technically sound workouts tend to pick one or two (usually one) of these paces and work it hard. The workouts below do the same thing. They’re capable of kicking your butt as hard as you want, but are a lot more fun than grinding out endless 1,000s. Many have a fartlek feel, though they’re too structured to be true fartleks.

Four-by-four 300s

I got this idea from running with the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Track Club in the early 1980s, although I have modified it substantially. Pacing is critical. Do it right and it’s a great early season or race-week workout. Do it wrong and you’ll keel over at halfway.

This workout could be described as 16 x 300, but that sounds far too scary. It’s run in sets of four, at "L" pace, with 100m float-jog recoveries (i.e., a slow jog — easy, but no lollygagging). After every fourth repeat, take a 500m recovery at whatever pace you need.

Warning: do not try this at "S" pace. If it feels too easy, speed up the 100m floats. What you’re looking for is something that feels like punctuated 1,200s.

Twelves and sixesThis is a tougher workout, again designed to get the effect of 1,200s. Start with two or three true 1,200s, at "L" pace, with 400m recovery. Finish with pairs of 600s at the same pace, with 200m float-jog recoveries. If you do more than two 600s, you’ll need a slower, 400m recovery between pairs. Again, if this feels too easy, it’s better to speed up the floats than to push the pace in the 600s.

Twelves and twosThis sounds like more of the same, but this time, you’re mixing paces. It was inspired by a conversation with Portland, Oregon, coach Bob Williams, who thinks that short, fast intervals can work well at the end of a workout. "Most coaches are afraid to do this," he said, "but they shouldn’t be."

Start with 3 x 1,200 at "L" pace, with 400m recoveries. Finish with 6 x 200 at "S" pace with 200m recoveries. That way, you’re doing enough work at each pace to reap the benefits, while still holding the total down.

In theory, you could do the same thing with 1,000s and 400s, but with a different balance between "L" and "S" pace.

Two-by-foursA classic workout is 12 x 400 at "L" pace, with 200m recovery. But people tend to be super-intimidated by the sheer number of repeats. Then, they blast out too fast in the first few, only to fade badly, later on.

As an alternative, try doing 400s in pairs, with alternating 100m and 300m recoveries. The thought of having to do a second 400 so soon will help you keep your pace under control, while the 300m recovery will perk you up for the next pair.

Don’t take too long on the recoveries, though. In "L"-pace workouts, recovery time shouldn’t exceed the time spent running at speed, although with this workout, you’ll need to think in terms of interval-and-recovery pairs. In other words, if you’re running 90-second 400s, each pair of recoveries should total no more than three minutes. How you split that up is your choice, but the faster you do the short (100m) recoveries, the tougher the workout becomes.

If you’re in really great shape, you’ll wind up running something that looks a lot like 6 x 900, with just a slight slow-up in the middle. But most of us mere mortals are quite happy to take more advantage of that 100m recovery.

Poor-man’s (or woman’s) milesSame idea, but with slightly longer (and fewer) sets. Again, the formula is to throw a couple of short (100m) float-jogs into a distance that, this time, adds up to a mile. Try three sets of 600-400-600 separated by a 400m recovery.

There are plenty of other variations on this theme; once you’ve gotten the idea, you can create your own. For example, 1,000s can be pieced together from 600-400 pairs, or 1,200s from 800-400s. Do the long one first, though, or you’ll go too fast in the short one.

700s anyone?There are interval distances that most people almost never run. But there’s no reason not to, and they have the advantage that unless you’re really good at doing oddball arithmetic in your head, you’ll have to "run your body" to find the right effort level — a useful skill for racing.

Of these, the most obvious are 700s. Except for the oddity of the starting and finishing points, 7 x 700 would be a fine, either at "M" pace (on 400m recoveries) or "L" pace (on 300m recoveries). That said, I’ve never cared to try it.

More fun is including some exotic distances in pyramids. Try 500-600-700-800-800-700-600-500. That adds up to 5,200 meters, which is a bit on the long side, so treat the final 500 as optional.

You can do this at either "L" pace or "M" pace. At "L" pace you want recoveries that take no longer than the preceding interval. That probably means 200m on the 500s, 300m on the 600s and 700s, and 400m on the 800s. At "M" pace, use 400m recoveries, all the way through.

A steady diet of this type of workout probably involves too much number crunching for most folks, but once in a while, it’s a great cures for the doldrums.

Other variable-recovery laddersIf you want to do a broad-ranging pyramid or ladder, try running each repeat at "L" pace, but varying the recovery to match the distance. Any mix of repeats that adds up to about three miles should do the trick, though the more longer intervals you include, the tougher the workout.

Set the recoveries so that they take no longer than the preceding interval. As always, if you want to toughen the workout, extend the total distance, or speed up the recoveries. Don’t shorten the recoveries absurdly, though. Testing one of these ladders for my group, my training partner and I wound up pushing each other into four miles of "L" pace with a total of four minutes recovery. It was fun, but too close to race effort for optimum training.

"M" PyramidYou can do the same thing at "M" pace. The classic "M" workouts are 6 x 800 or 8 x 600, with 400m recovery. (Note that this is not the same thing as the equally classic 6 x 800 at "L" pace on 200m recovery.) Those are great workouts, but if they’re getting boring, try an "M" pyramid that mixes anything from 400s through 800s. (I don’t advise going beyond 800s at "M" pace.) Set the recovery at 400m, except for 400s and perhaps 500s, where that will over-recover you and tempt you to go at "S" pace.

"S" Pyramids"S" workouts are usually comprised of 400s, 200s, or combinations thereof. But there’s no reason not to add some 300s to the mix (500s are too long). Set the recoveries at the same distance as the preceding interval, and take enough time to be well recovered. Total "S" pace distance should be held to two miles (2.X if you’re doing more than 50 miles a week).

Cruise intervalsThe traditional "T"-pace workout is a three-miler, which is a bit boring on the track. For an equivalent but more interesting workout, break it up and increase the total distance to four miles. Set the recovery at about 15 seconds for each lap run at speed. That’s short enough that all you’ll have time to do is to jog in circles a bit before restarting, so don’t even try to make it to the next 100m mark.

There are a multitude of ways to do this. One I like is 10 or 11 x 600 with 20-25 second recovery. It’s deceptively easy until about the eighth repeat. Or, build a descending ladder: 1,200(45)-1,200(45)-1,000(40)-1,000(40)-800(30)-600(20)-400(15), where the numbers in parentheses are recovery times, in seconds.

Note that the recovery times are approximate. With practice, you’ll discover that there’s about a five-second window of optimum recovery. You’ll feel it when it arrives. If you need more and more recovery time with each repeat, you’re going too fast.

Hill-repeat up-and-oversThis isn’t a track workout, but it’s a great alternative. It requires a long hill with a crest you can run up and over. You also need good footing so you can push the downgrade without risking an ankle.

Start 400 meters before the crest and run uphill at an "M"-pace effort level. Continue to push at that level over the top and 400 meters down the other side. Jog around for the equivalent of a 400m recovery, and go back the other direction. Repeat for a total of six 800m intervals.

If you do this in a group, you’ll find that many people charge to the crest, then fade. It makes this a great workout for learning hill tactics. And having to push through the crest makes it surprisingly challenging.

If you can’t find a hill with a suitable crest, you can do an out-and-back on any long-enough upgrade, but having to slow down for the turnaround undermines the workout.

*****

Precision-pacing competitions

Having trouble hitting the right pace? Challenge your friends to a precision-pacing competition. Coaching, I do it twice a year, with merchandise prizes.

You could do this with any workout, but there’s more sport if there are a large number of repetitions. That means they need to be fairly short. I typically use 12 x 400 at "L" pace (200m recoveries). Here’s how it works:

The first repeat is a freebie. Then you have a choice: accept the time you ran as your target, or announce something else. After that, you self-time but can’t use your watch for splits. No running in groups, either. That way, nobody can mooch off someone else’s pacing skills.

On each interval, score a point for every second by which you miss the target. Want a real challenge? Try to become so good that you need to keep track of tenths. Lowest point total wins.

Out of Phase?

Traditional workouts combine interval length and recovery distance to put the starting and ending points at no worse than half-lap increments. That makes it less confusing.

Not so with some of the workouts presented here.

I deal with this by setting out cones every 100 meters around the track. Don’t worry about starting and ending points, I tell people if we’re doing something really odd: count cones.

Your watch can also help. You may not know what time to expect for 500 meters, but you know your lap pace. You won’t get so far off that you won’t know which cone’s the right one.

Regrouping

One summer, I had the joy of a track partner who was a perfect match -— once, she outkicked me by a mere 0.1 seconds in a 12K race that we were not intentionally running together. Being that well-matched allowed us to do some really cool short-recovery workouts without ever getting more than a stride or two apart. But unfortunately, such partners are rare. Club workouts function best if they have catch-up points where people of slightly varying paces can regroup.

Most of the workouts in this article are designed with that in mind. That’s part of why they tend to involve sets of elements, with longer recoveries between. You and your partners might get separated within each set, but there’s enough leeway in the longer recoveries to allow you to get back together.

Exceptions are cruise intervals, which lose potency if you over-recover, waiting for a slower partner, and are too tough if you shorten the recovery, trying to start with a faster one. But the bigger your group, the better your chance of having compatible partners for these, too.

Pacing Theory

Pace is critical for proper training. My concepts of "S," "L" and "T" pace came from Alberto Salazar, but they are quite similar to paces found in Daniels’ Running Formula, by Jack Daniels, Ph.D. Daniels may also be the one who invented the term "cruise intervals."

The scientific theory behind these paces, though, is up in the air. Traditionally, it was based on the "limitations" theory, which said that running performance was limited by such factors as aerobic capacity, lactic acid tolerance, or muscle glycogen, and that the goal of training was to push back these limits. Recent findings by South African exercise physiologist Timothy Noakes have cast doubt on this theory — but the training paces still work, even if we’re not quite sure why.

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Obviously, there is a limit to the number of workouts you can do without repetition. But by adding these into the old standbys, you’ve got enough to go for months. Since I shifted my club to them, we’ve had both an increase in track attendance and a nice string of PRs.

The PRs are partly due to increased interest in the track. But even some of us old track rats have perked up, so it’s obvious that the workouts aren’t just fun: they’re also doing the job.